US-wanted “bank hacker” is all smiles as he is arrested at Bangkok airport [VIDEO]

An alleged hacker, suspected by the FBI of stealing millions of dollars from online bank accounts, has been arrested by Thai police and paraded in front of the world’s media.

24-year-old Hamza Bendelladj, an Algerian national, was detained this weekend at Bangkok’s Suvarnnabhumi airport, as he was in transit from Malaysia to Egypt.

Bendelladj, was brought out handcuffed and beaming broadly in front of TV cameras, seemingly untroubled by the FBI’s claims that he hacked into customer accounts at 217 banks and financial companies around the world.

The Bangkok Post reports that a smiling Bendelladj denied claims made by the Thai authorities that he was on the FBI’s top-10 most wanted list:

“I’m not in the top 10, maybe just 20th or 50th,” the Algerian suspect said with a laugh. “I am not a terrorist.”

Here’s…

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.